DAYBREAK

Sometimes you stumble upon a CD you have never heard before and discover a truly lost gem. This is the case with this obscure dutch band from the 70´s. A friend introduced me to Mirror knowing I was a fan of Holland´s music scene since the late 60´s and I´m grateful he did it. Daybreak is, unfortunately, their only album and it shows great promise. The music is mostly instrumental, but there are some nice laid back vocals done by keyboardist Paula Mennen, sometimes helped by bassist Johan Saanen. The band was strongly influenced by classic bands like Camel and Focus, with some parts also reminding of Earth and Fire and even a bit of Krautrock too. Still, they were already showing a sound of their own, which made me even sadder to know there was never a follow up. In fact, at the time, only 500 copies of the LP were pressed.

Most of the tunes are led by guitarist Kees Walravensm, but the band also had Philip De Goey on oboe, sax and flute, giving the band a quite distinctive twist. The title track starts with a powerful riff obviously taken from the classic Yes song Perpetual Change, but that´s as far as they go copying that group. The remaining is mostly pastoral and tranquil, much on the Camel´s style, although never really as a rip off of anyone. As I mentioned before, they were not only excellent musicians, but also very good songwriters. I just loved Saanen´s bass lines and Mennen´s great use of the ARP String Ensemble. Production was not that great, but the performances were so good they overcame that issue easily. There are no weak tracks and I throughly enjoyed Daybreak.

Conclusion: If you like laid back symphonic rock in the vein of the aforementioned bands then you cant´miss this one. It´s really a tragedy they did not get the recognition they deserved when they released this jewel. Still, they at least produced a fine LP that still sounds as fresh and beautiful as it was in 1976. I´m really glad I got to know them.

Rating: 4 strong stars.